Return of the Witch Lord Versions photo comparison

[Cael Darkhollow]

Left to right front of boxes and questbooks:
1989 Return of the Witch Lord UK/AUS Milton Bradley/Games Workshop
1991 Return of the Witch Lord North American version Milton Bradley/Games Workshop
2021 Return of the Witch Lord North American version Hasbro/Avalon Hill



Left to right back of boxes and questbooks:
1989 Return of the Witch Lord UK/AUS Milton Bradley/Games Workshop
1991 Return of the Witch Lord North American version Milton Bradley/Games Workshop
1991 NA advertisement for quest packs
2021 Return of the Witch Lord North American version Hasbro/Avalon Hill



Back of the quest book for the 1989 Return of the Witch Lord UK/AUS Milton Bradley/Games Workshop version showing the map of the Warhammer Old World



1989 Return of the Witch Lord UK Milton Bradley/Games Workshop contents:
one quest book (28 pages including front and back cover...strange page count) with Old World Map painting on back
16 Figures in light off-white hard plastic with extra lip step on the bases.
8 skeletons (two not shown due to lousy paint experiments)
4 zombies
4 mummies
10 skulls
21 single sided carboard tiles or door pieces (one revolving room, four stone coffins, one Throne room, two pit traps, four secret doors, one death mist,
two folding card doors "wood" and "iron", six rubble piles used to block corridors and as deadfall traps.) The UK tile and door versions are slightly thicker card than U.S. versions.
two inserts probably also came with a mail-in questionnaire and a folded advertisement showing both quest packs, the HeroQuest board game and on the reverse Space Crusade board game.


1991 Return of the Witch Lord North American version Milton Bradley/Games Workshop contents:
one quest book (28 pages including front and back cover...strange page count) with extra removable outer card cover with Alchemist's Shop on one side and scroll and item cards on the other.
10 cut out artifact cards (five magic items and five magic scrolls)
1 alchemist's shop large card
16 Figures in yellowish white hard plastic with flat bases.
8 skeletons
4 zombies
4 mummies
10 skulls
21 single sided carboard tiles or door pieces (one revolving room, four stone coffins, one Throne room, two pit traps, four secret doors, one death mist,
two folding card doors "wood" and "iron", six stone wall tiles.)
three inserts also came with a mail-in questionnaire, order form and a single sided folded advertisement showing both NA quest packs.


2021 Return of the Witch Lord North American version Hasbro/Avalon Hill contents
one quest book (32 pages including front and back cover...strange page count to include the covers)
4 equipment cards (three potions and one antidote)
10 artifact cards ((five spell scrolls and five magical items)
2 paper card sleeves
1 plastic figure tray
16 Figures in bendable soft cream white plastic.
8 skeletons (some of mine have droopy scythes, I'm not happy about that)
4 mummies
4 zombies
1 plastic "Iron" door
1 plastic "wood" door
20 single sided carboard tiles (one revolving room, four stone coffins, one Throne room, two pit traps, four secret doors, one death mist, six stone wall tiles, one bone pile tile (NEW!)

[Cael Darkhollow]

page 4 of the Avalon Hill/Hasbro 2021 version lists the contents and under "Cardboard sheet includes:" it lists every tile EXCEPT the new BONE PILE TILE but strangely lists it beneath the wooden exit door...
I will peruse the questbooks and rulebooks to see if any mention is made whatsoever of the new tiles included in KK and ROTWL, or if they have no game application beyond scenery for the blank quest map to create your own.

Quest 10 Court of the Witch Lord actually shows the throne room tile on the map, on other versions just the letter footnote explanation.

The BONE PILE TILE is not on any of the quest maps that I could see in the 2021 questbook, and it has no description anywhere in the text. On the blank map and tile legend pages it is missing altogether. So it is only shown and named on page 4 with no description.

[HispaZargon]

Thank you again for sharing, Cael Darkhollow.

An little off-topic comment: I has never undestood why ROTWL's throne room tile included a picture of the throne since the basic game includes a throne furniture to be better placed there! (I always place it above the tile)

[Kimarous]

I do find it rather odd that the Old World map in the original does not specify the location of Karak Varn, wherein lies Keller's Keep, which the Emperor took shelter in. Of all places, you'd think that would warrant a marker, yet apparently not.

[Cael Darkhollow]

I do find it rather odd that the Old World map in the original does not specify the location of Karak Varn, wherein lies Keller's Keep, which the Emperor took shelter in. Of all places, you'd think that would warrant a marker, yet apparently not.

Indeed they thought it better to include names of several Tilian cities that rarely or never ever get mentioned or detailed again, and nary a one Dwarf Stronghold including the one actually used in HeroQuest. Go figure.

[Cael Darkhollow]

one other Old World Map was included in the HeroQuest Sticker Album that DOES show Karak Varn


and a map of the frozen North was included in two of the three HeroQuest novels: the Screaming Spectre, and The Tyrant's Tomb

The only slight ambiguity on this HeroQuest area map is the phrase "The HeroQuest World is based loosely on the Warhammer World which is the copyright of Games Workshop and used with their permission."

[Kimarous]

The only slight ambiguity on this HeroQuest area map is the phrase "The HeroQuest World is based loosely on the Warhammer World which is the copyright of Games Workshop and used with their permission."

Honestly, this all just drives home just now irrelevant the greater Warhammer setting is to HeroQuest.

Just as well in my eyes. I prefer HeroQuest to be its own thing, rather than an irrelevant blip in the grand narrative.

[Cael Darkhollow]

The only slight ambiguity on this HeroQuest area map is the phrase "The HeroQuest World is based loosely on the Warhammer World which is the copyright of Games Workshop and used with their permission."

Honestly, this all just drives home just now irrelevant the greater Warhammer setting is to HeroQuest.

Just as well in my eyes. I prefer HeroQuest to be its own thing, rather than an irrelevant blip in the grand narrative.

I think you have it backwards.
HeroQuest was irrelevant to the greater (literal sense) Warhammer Setting not the other way around.
Warhammer was a millions of dollars juggernaut that continues in some form or many spin offs to this day, while HeroQuest was a side project board game with Milton Bradley by Games Workshop that lasted a few years as a spin off game of the Warhammer world intended for younger kids than the main Warhammer consumers who were older teens and adults. Warhammer products have thousands of printed pages detailing the world spanning decades, with legions of players and hobbyists involved spending many millions of dollars, while HeroQuest got slightly more than half a dozen 32 pages or so Quest Books and rules with enough background info to play and immerse in the fantasy world depicted long enough to play a board game for an hour or a few. The recent fundraising campaign is probably the most money that HeroQuest ever made.
HeroQuest couldn't exist without Warhammer, the opposite isn't true at all. Few remember HeroQuest (just roughly 3500 fans who are members of this site and a few thousand more talking HeroQuest elsewhere on the net, whilst Warhammer fans are hundreds of thousands strong similar to the D&D fan base in size. HeroQuest IS an irrelevant blip in the grand narrative, just consider yourself lucky that you found it and played such an awesome but relatively obscure game that wasn't ever on most fantasy fans' radar, even dedicated gamers. It remains to be seen just how many more fans will be added to the HeroQuest fan base with this latest incarnation or if it ever goes bigtime mainstream super fandom like D&D, Warhammer, or equivalent fantasy video games.
It is true that you never needed the Warhammer World to play HeroQuest, but it literally owes it's existence to it.
Now without Games Workshop HeroQuest is completely separate from it's Warhammer roots for the first time, but the connected history will always be there.

[Shadzar]

The only slight ambiguity on this HeroQuest area map is the phrase "The HeroQuest World is based loosely on the Warhammer World which is the copyright of Games Workshop and used with their permission."

Honestly, this all just drives home just now irrelevant the greater Warhammer setting is to HeroQuest.

Just as well in my eyes. I prefer HeroQuest to be its own thing, rather than an irrelevant blip in the grand narrative.

I think you have it backwards.
HeroQuest was irrelevant to the greater (literal sense) Warhammer Setting not the other way around.

Actually no, it does prove how little Wathammer matter to players of HQ, because HQ could be bought in normal toy stores, where you could not find specialty items in NA for things like Warhammer.

Kmart, Sears, Toy R Us, would all have Milton Bradley games, but hardly any places wold have Warhammer, unless they also had D&D Traveler, RC Cars/planes, etc... the hobby shops is where you had to go to find Warhammer, and most kids didn't have parents that shopped there like a department store where they could go birthday or Xmas shopping while also buying clothes and dishes. This is why I constantly argue that GW world is actully meaningless, along with the fact that so little of it existed outside of those that had copies to White Dwarf magazine,a s it wasnt added to anything except maybe the initial ad in Dragon and Dungeon magazines, so most people that continued to play HQ after it was discontinued, just made their own world and quests set in them with the underlying principle of

These are the 4 heroes of the lands, and they come in infinite supply to allow you to continue on quests, in attempt to work for Mentor to drive away the evil forces of Zargon.

In UK where GW was liekly more popular then maybe it had more influence to the players.

it is nice "lore" to have to plug-and-play at the time, but any simple thing like in the quote i created as a general overview of HQ is all that was required.

AHQ probably had more influence by the lore, but it was not HQ, it was AHQ.

This is where regional comes into play and does the lore matter? Probably not. How many Japanese players knew or cared about Warhammer?

GW influence probably only matters to those in UK controlled territories, and purists or others that are anal about the "setting".

Most people played the game, not the setting. Lots didn't even know who GW were, and didn't care either.

It is like WotC putting Magic the Gathering into D&D, they just have ready made stuff to insert without having to fully develop new content. That is how Fimir, Chaos Warrior and other clear WFB minis apeard in HQ because they already existed and didn't need further design.

Which reminds me, I do have a mummy somewhere that isnt HQ but looks like it belong to a board game. Not sure where I got it, but gave it to someone with KK and ROTWL for an extra "special character" mummy. Might need to borrow their set when mine come in to scan both things in to compare tiels and such for art while i scan the monsters.. but base game, and ROTWL and KK all use the same monsters....

GW influence and lore isnt that important, just people shouldn't force it onto other people if it doesnt matter to them to be able to play HQ.

[Kimarous]

Shadzar gets what I'm trying to say.

I'm not saying that HeroQuest wouldn't exist without Warhammer existing in the first place.

I'm saying that I consider HeroQuest to be its own tale, separate from the Warhammer setting's greater narrative - that your Heroes are legit Heroes in a realm of high adventure, not chaff in the winds of Warhammer's epic history.